The Empowerment Principle of Free Will means we are free to experience our life as we see appropriate or right for us. It is about knowing that we will always have the freedom to make our own choices, without judgement of how others are choosing to live by theirs.
“Your empowerment exists when you decide how you will react, what you will tolerate, which goals you reach for and which obstacles you are going to allow to prevent you from reaching them.”
Free Will and the Fear of Being Judged
And yet too often, we compromise our Free Will and fear to speak our own truth. One of the main reasons is the “fear of being judged”, as we seek validation of our self-worth through the eyes of others. It usually begins in our teenage years, but sometimes in younger children, where we start associating our self-worth with the positive feedback of others – and in the process give away our Free Will and be dependent upon others to influence our decisions of the choices we make.
Free Will and Relationship with Others
Often in relationships, when we are not exercising our Free Will, we are not feeling free to speak or act in accordance with our true values and beliefs. What eventually happens is we become exhausted or frustrated and make the sudden decision to say yes or no to something we have been avoiding or prolonging. And yet, how much time, energy and resources could be saved by simply exercising our free will to begin with?
By choosing to acknowledge the free will in others, we are also making an agreement about how we are going to interact with others. If a person repeatedly acts out against us, then we need to honour that it is their free will to do that, but that we will no longer be a part of that journey with them. We are free to honour our differences and choose to let them go.
“If we remain respectful and honour the Free Will of others as well as ourselves, we will realise there are always opportunities and ways to express our desires and opinions without judgement.”
One of my favorite quotes on Free Will:
“Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident, they are acting on their own free will” – Joseph Goebbels
Join me on my Health2bfree Coaching Services page, where I would regularly be sharing with you our Empowerment Principles. Our EP7 – Empowerment for Purpose Program has a total of 52 Principles.
Jenny Korten is a certified facilitator for the UFIND and EP7 programs. For more information, email her at [email protected] our subscribe to her blog.